The two climbed the stairs and reached his front door.
Zhang Zhaomu took out his key and opened the door. This wasn't Duan Chan'er's first visit to his place, so she didn't seem too reserved.
"I'll go find a basin." Zhang Zhaomu set the T-shirt wrapped around the two puppies on the table and headed toward the bathroom.
"What do you need a basin for?" Duan Chan'er paused.
"To wash them," Zhang Zhaomu said. "They spent so long in that trash can. They're filthy all over."
"No!" Duan Chan'er hurriedly said. "You absolutely can't bathe newborn puppies! It could kill them outright!"
"Huh?" Zhang Zhaomu's mouth fell open.
He really didn't have any basic knowledge in this area.
"I just took it for granted." He glanced at the tiny lives whimpering inside the T-shirt and scratched his head. "What should we do, then?"
"Soak a clean, soft towel in warm water, then wring it out thoroughly until it doesn't drip. Carefully wipe the dirty areas, then immediately dry them with a hair dryer on its lowest setting, holding it well away," Duan Chan'er said.
"How do you know all that in such detail?" Zhang Zhaomu was a little surprised.
"Didn't I tell you my grandma had a dog? When she had puppies later, I was the one who took care of them," Duan Chan'er explained.
That wasn't actually the reason.
There was simply a stray-dog rescue scene in the novel she was writing, and she'd specifically looked up information on the subject for it. Of course, she certainly wouldn't tell Zhang Zhaomu that.
"I see." Zhang Zhaomu nodded. "I'll turn on the water heater first, then see if I can find a softer towel."
To save electricity, he kept the water heater in his rented apartment switched off most of the time, only turning it on ahead of a shower. Of course, when it got really hot in summer, he couldn't even be bothered to turn it on and just took a cold shower instead.
"That'll take ages." Duan Chan'er asked, "Do you have an electric kettle?"
"No..."
Zhang Zhaomu wasn't in the habit of drinking hot water.
Duan Chan'er furrowed her brows slightly. "The longer we drag this out, the more danger they'll be in."
After some thought, she finally gritted her teeth. "Let's take care of them at my place. I've got more of what we need. And I haven't thrown out the cardboard delivery box I got a couple of days ago, so we can line it with some old clothes and make them a nest."
"Your place?" Zhang Zhaomu raised his eyebrows. "Would that be inconvenient?"
"Not at all." Duan Chan'er thought it over. As long as he didn't go into her bedroom, there wasn't anything in the living room she couldn't let him see.
"All right." Zhang Zhaomu didn't fuss and picked up the two puppies again.
The two went out, and Duan Chan'er took out her key and opened her front door. Zhang Zhaomu hesitated on the threshold. "Should I change my shoes?"
"No, I'm not that particular." Her expression was a little unnatural. Since she'd rented this apartment, no one besides her landlord and family had ever come inside.
"Okay." Zhang Zhaomu stepped inside and looked around with some curiosity.
The layout was exactly the same as his place: one bedroom and a living room, with a small kitchen outside the bathroom.
The only difference was that Duan Chan'er's place was much better equipped with furniture and appliances, especially in the kitchen. It looked as though quite a few things had been specially installed, such as an integrated stove unit and a range hood.
Although there were clear signs of daily use, the stovetop had been wiped spotless, and all the kitchen utensils were neatly arranged.
Zhang Zhaomu felt that this girl came with a built-in [refined] character setting.
Duan Chan'er first filled the electric kettle with water and pressed the power button, then opened the fridge and took out a bottle of goat's milk.
"We need to warm the milk a little. They can't drink it too cold, either."
Zhang Zhaomu nodded. "But do you have a feeding bottle?"
"...Of course not."
Duan Chan'er thought for a moment. "A syringe without a needle would work better for puppies this small, but I don't have one of those either."
"A nearby pharmacy should sell them, right?" Zhang Zhaomu said. "Shall I go get one?"
"It's fine. Let's make do with a kitchen glove for now," Duan Chan'er said. "We just need to snip a tiny opening in a fingertip and be a little careful when feeding them so they don't choke."
Zhang Zhaomu gave her a thumbs-up. "Duan Chan'er, you're really quick on your feet!"
She was clearly supposed to have the character setting of a literary girl who never partook of the mortal world's smoke and fire, yet she was far more down-to-earth than most high schoolers. Her life-experience level was probably nearly at MAX.
"Then I'll get things ready to clean them. Can you help handle the feeding?" Duan Chan'er suggested.
"No problem!"
Since they'd brought the puppies back together, naturally they had to divide the work and cooperate.
Zhang Zhaomu was no slouch at practical tasks either. He soon fashioned a homemade feeder out of a kitchen glove, poured the warmed goat's milk into one of its fingers, and carefully held it to one puppy's mouth.
As though driven by its survival instinct, the puppy immediately opened its mouth slightly.
Controlling the flow of milk, Zhang Zhaomu fed each puppy a little goat's milk-not much, since Duan Chan'er had specifically told him that just a few milliliters at a time would do.
Meanwhile, Duan Chan'er had prepared a warm towel and was gently wiping the puppies' bodies. This step took more time. Worried about them losing body heat, she could only work a little at a time, while Zhang Zhaomu held the hair dryer and blew it at them from a distance.
Once they finally got both puppies clean and settled them in the cardboard box lined with old clothes, and saw them quietly fall asleep without whimpering anymore, the two at last let out long breaths and collapsed onto the sofa together.
"I never thought something like this would be so much trouble," Zhang Zhaomu said with a sigh. "Good thing you've got experience. If I'd been on my own, I'd definitely have been all hands and feet."
"Keeping pets is a lot of trouble, especially newborn little things like these." Beads of sweat dotted Duan Chan'er's face, but there was a satisfied smile in her voice. "Still, they've got pretty tenacious vitality. I was worried just now that we wouldn't be able to get any food into them. That would've been the biggest problem."
"So they're through the most dangerous stage now, right?" Zhang Zhaomu asked.
"We'll have to watch them overnight to know," Duan Chan'er said. "Newborn puppies need feeding every two to three hours, and they can't relieve themselves on their own yet. They need manual stimulation... There'll be plenty to keep us busy tonight."
Zhang Zhaomu couldn't help feeling a little guilty. "I was the one who decided to do a good deed, but you ended up missing out on barbecue and spending all this time helping. I'm really sorry. Leave the rest to me. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight anyway."
"What? You're the only one with a kind heart, and I don't have one?" Duan Chan'er rolled her eyes at him. "I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them to you. If something unexpected happened, would you know what to do?"
This was the first time Zhang Zhaomu had seen that expression on Duan Chan'er's face. It made her seem a little more vivid.
He said sheepishly, "I could look up information on my phone... I'm mostly worried about disrupting your sleep too much. We've still got class tomorrow."
"The class monitor led the way by sleeping all day today. Surely an ordinary citizen like me can catch up on a little sleep tomorrow?" Duan Chan'er gave a light huff.
"Or are you going to tattle to Old Chen?"